Petal of Light
is chapter nine of the Nogi Wakaba is a Hero light novel series. Hero Diary Entry : Words in brackets were previously censored by the Taisha. Doi Tamako - "I've noticed something. The small fries have been quickly evolving. But whatever, Tama's been doing some evolving of her own, so no biggie. Heart. Technique. Physique. Tama's been growing in all three areas these past few years. Let me just say that Tama's graceful movements are gonna blow everyone's minds ta-mashed bits! But wasn't the reason the small fries came out in the first place because of god other than Shinju-sama?" Summary The heroes stood atop Marugame Castle within Jukai, the oracle Hinata envisioned happened after half a month after the oracle. Wakaba attempted to use her radar to see how many there were, but to no avail, it almost seemed like thousands were there. It was innumberable as Wakaba described it with a stern face. Yuna poked Wakaba's cheek and told her they would win and suggested a huddle. The strategy Anzu came up with to counter this general offensive was to use battle formations. The five heroes deployed to designated locations with assigned roles to intercept the Vertexes. The interception was centered on Marugame Castle. The area around Marugame castle was chosen because it was still not covered completely covered in vegetation even during forestization. In the areas in front of Marugame castle, the center, east, and west sides were to be stationed by one hero apiece. Anzu would stay on standby at the rear. The remaining person would rest. The three in front line would defeat the attacking Vertexes, and any enemies that slipped through would be shot down by Anzu with her superior long-range attacks. If any of the three in front line were to show signs of fatigue, they would switch places with the one resting. Due to the signs, the heroes suspected their battle would be long, after their huddle Wakaba wanted to center Marugame Castle, Chikage suspects it was because she wanted to kill the most vertex but Wakaba laughs it off saying she had to be a leader and protect Shikoku. This still leaves Chikage suspicious. The team jumps off, Anzu was their commander and she would tell someone to do something or fall back. With just the four heroes, they had an advantage they didn't even have the last battle. Chikage held her scythe tightly in the rear and was getting impatient wanting to jump in. Anzu told her there was no need to rush and she was going to be needed. The word "needed" calmed Chikage down. After half an hour, the first to switch was Wakaba after cutting down horde after horde of vertex. Anzu told Wakaba to switch out with the girl almodt refusing but reconsidered it and let Chikage switch her out. Chikage said she was going to slap some semse into her if ahe refused to switch out and Wakaba says she learned from their time playing video games. The girls had an awkward high five and Wakaba said she was counting on her and Chikage mumbled take a good rest. Tamako told Anzu to keep supporting Yuna and they fought easily as two people. Anzu said seeing them fight gave her courage to fight. Wakaba overlooked as the heroes were fighting and saw how reliable they where as she shuddered. Tamako soon started showing fatigue and switched out with Wakaba. After three hours of fighting, the girks were okay without any injuries, the vertex started getting serious however as the stardust fused into the Scorpion Vertex. Wakaba stood there and told herself she has seen these before and she would not flinch. As it came towards her, she sliced it in half as the heroes watched in amazement. Anzu was the first to notice it was still alive however. Wakaba noticed as she cut it, it multiplied. Tamako soon told Wakaba she would use her Trump Card invoking the Spirit of . Her yo yo soon became several sizes bigger than herself and she threw it off the string. She could control it at will but immediately felt fatigue. As they looked over, the vertex fused quickly. Yuna said there was nothing they could do before Wakaba suspected they could hit it's weak spot before it finished fusing. Tamako's enlargened shield could get them there, as they got there the heroes jumped down as the vertex finisned fusing. Wakaba realized she just pulled her friends into a death trap. To protect her friends at all cost she would access the Shinju's conceptual record, using her Trump Card invoking the Spirit of Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune (源義経). She used the technique Hassou tobi to destroy the vertex and the heroes destroyed the weak spots quickly. Wakaba soon fell from the sky experiencing the physical kick back of the trump card. As Yuna yelled out her name, forestization lifted and Shikoku was back to normal. Wakaba landed under a sakura tree at Marugame Castle and was founded by Hinata. She asked if the battle was over and she responded saying yes they won. Wakaba told her she had a little dream. "Wakaba was in elementary school in the dream. The classmates who had been killed on the day of the Vertex attacks were standing before her. Wakaba spoke up to them. "The Vertexes aren't the only ones who need to pay for their actions... I need to pay for my sin, my failure to protect you and surviving on my own. But they shook their heads and smiled at Wakaba. "You see, our families are in Shikoku." "Thanks to your brave fight, our parents are still alive" "So you've already paid." Braving the dangers of fighting the Vertex and protecting the land and its people-- That was how Wakaba was paying for her sin of failing to protect her friends. Wakaba held back tears as she tried her best to smile. "In that case... I'll keep... I'll keep protecting the people who live in this land forever. That's my reward. A reward for everything... That's the Nogi way." The rest of the heroes soon catched up and were happy to see Wakaba. Wakaba turned around to see her precious friends catch up to her that day. Navigation Category:Chapter Category:Light Novel